


Tiny Tony

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Tony Stark x Reader Series [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, PG-13 sexual situations, Tony Being Tony, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21703996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: Tony has a tendency to get in over his head with his experiments. . .and he usually drags Bruce along with him.  Thankfully, you’re always there to help him fix whatever mess he’s gotten himself into, but sometimes it gets to be too much.  All you want is to take a vacation with the man you love, but between his mishaps in the lab, the world being in danger almost 24/7, and pesky homework assignments that are in danger of being late, you may never get a chance for a little R&R.
Relationships: tony stark x reader
Series: Tony Stark x Reader Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/774300
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Tiny Tony

**Tony Stark x Reader**

**Summary** – Tony has a tendency to get in over his head with his experiments. . .and he usually drags Bruce along with him. Thankfully, you’re always there to help him fix whatever mess he’s gotten himself into, but sometimes it gets to be too much. All you want is to take a vacation with the man you love, but between his mishaps in the lab, the world being in danger almost 24/7, and pesky homework assignments that are in danger of being late, you may never get a chance for a little R&R.

**Warnings** – Fluff, PG-13 Sexual Situations, Tony being Tony…probably a curse word or two

**Word Count** – 8.6K

**Notes **\- Parts 1 - 7 of 7

** _**Updated September 17, 2019**_ **

_ ** [Masterlist](https://beccaanne814.tumblr.com/post/174989754188/masterlist) ** _

[[MORE]]

"Tony, I don't think this is such a great idea," YN said with a frown as she watched Bruce and her boyfriend tinkering with their newest invention.

"YN," Tony chided with a roll of his eyes. "Hank Pym came up with this tech—it's can't be that difficult."

She let out a frustrated huff and shook her head. "I know you and Pym have this rivalry. . ."

"Correction," Tony interrupted as he pointed a screwdriver in her direction. "Pym and my father had a rivalry."

Letting out a sigh, she looked to Bruce for some help, but he was doing his best to avoid her gaze. She had a bad feeling about this new tech, but it didn't seem like anything she said to Tony was making a difference. She knew she should just let it go, but she had to at least try.

"Pym has been perfecting this tech for decades," she reasoned. "Why don't you just call Scott and ask him to stop by. I'm sure he'll more than happy to let you look at his suit."

Tony stopped what he was doing and turned around slowly to face her. She could tell from the look on his face that she'd said the wrong thing—again.

"You don't think I can figure this out?"

"That's not what she said," Bruce said, finally deciding to step in and try to alleviate the tension in the room.

Tony turned on his friend. "No, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she meant."

YN threw up her hands. "You know what, Tony? I'm done trying to reason with you. Just promise me one thing?" She waited for a moment to see if he'd acknowledge her request, but all she got was another eye roll. Knowing that was all she was going to get, she continued. "Just promise me that you won't try it out on yourself first."

Bruce looked at Tony to see if he was going to agree, but when Tony continued to work, he turned back to YN. "I promise that we won't run any tests on live subjects until we're sure it's going to work."

Nodding her head, she gave Bruce a half smile. She hoped that Tony would say something, but she knew when he got into one of his moods that it was pointless to stick around.

"Let me know if something goes wrong," she told Bruce as she turned to leave the lab.

As she rode the elevator up to the floor she shared with Tony, she hung her head and rubbed her temples. She loved that man, but he was so stubborn. She tried to be supportive, but sometimes he made it almost impossible. It was times like this that she had to remind herself why she still put up with him.

She had FRIDAY put on some soft music and ran herself a bath. As she soaked in the hot, fragrant water she replayed some of the best moments she'd had with Tony over the years—it helped to keep things in perspective and remind her why she put up with Tony Stark.

When FRIDAY alerted her that Bruce was at her door, all the stress that she'd just relived came rushing back like a tidal wave. Grabbing a robe from the hook by the door, she rushed to see what the next catastrophe was.

"Is it bad?" she asked Bruce once she'd opened the door.

He gave her a grimace and a shrug. "It's not horrible."

"Give me a second to get dressed and I'll be right down."

She shut the door and leaned against it for a moment. There was a part of her that just wanted to lock herself in and let Tony figure out his mess on his own, but she knew she'd never be able to sleep until she went down to check on him.

When she walked into the lab, she was shocked to see that it looked exactly the way it had a few hours before. Her eyes scanned the room, but the only two people she saw were Bruce and Peter.

"Where's Tony?"

Bruce began rubbing the back of his neck and Peter started wringing his hands. Neither one of them seemed to want to answer her question, so she asked again.

"Where is Tony?"

"Okay," Peter said, finally breaking under the pressure. "Here's the thing. You remember that really old movie where that guy built that shrink ray. . ."

"Kid, we've talked about the pop culture references."

YN heard Tony speak, but she still couldn't see him. Frantically, she turned around in a circle to look for him, but then Peter's words finally started to make sense.

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," she said with a sigh as she looked to Peter for confirmation.

"Yeah," Peter said with a chagrined look on his face as he took a step sideways and motioned to the work station behind him.

YN wanted to feel bad for Tony's predicament, but when she saw him she couldn't help the laughter that had her almost doubling over.

Tony stood with his hands on his hips and glared at YN—all two centimeters of him filled with poorly controlled rage.

"I would feel sorry for you," she said as she leaned over to look him in the eye, "but I told you not to try it out on yourself."

"Are you done?" Tony asked as he continued to shoot daggers at her. "If you hadn't noticed, we've got a little bit of a situation going on here."

"And what?" she asked as she reached down and pinched the back of his shirt to lift him up to her eye level. "You want me to fix this problem for you?"

"Put me down," Tony snarled as he struggled against her hold.

YN turned to Bruce and Peter with a huge smile on her face. "He's really cute like this, don't you think? Can we keep him this size?"

"YN," Bruce said, filling the one word with a mixture of censure and pleading.

"Okay, fine," she said with a sigh as she brought Tony closer to her.

He'd stopped struggling, but he refused to look at her as he continued to pout with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"Ask me nicely," she demanded.

Tony finally looked up to meet her gaze, and was pleased to see a look of concern in her eyes. "Please."

She nodded and reached for her phone. With a few taps of the screen, it began ringing on the other end. Tony gave her a quizzical look which she just ignored as the call was connected.

"Hey, Scott," she said with a huge smile as Tony started cussing. "We've got a little problem we could use your help with. How quickly can you get to New York?"

"How long before Scott gets here?" Wanda asked from the doorway as she watched a tiny Tony pace back and forth across his work bench.

YN shook her head. "Tony threw a fit when I called him and refused to send the Quinjet out to get him."

Wanda rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I'm assuming you didn't listen to him."

"Nope," YN said with a smug look. "I called Happy and told him what was going on. The Quinjet was in the air less than five minutes later." She paused and looked down at her watch. "He should be here within the hour."

Wanda turned her attention back to Tony. "What's he been doing all this time?"

"What do you think?" YN let out a long sigh and shook her head. "He's convinced he'll figure it out before Scott gets here—if only to prove to me that I jumped the gun by calling him."

"Hmm." Wanda thought for a moment. "What do you think his odds are?"

"It's Tony we're talking about," YN reminded her. "I give him a fifty-fifty shot."

"Want to tilt those odds in your favor?" Wanda asked as a mischievous grin spread across her face.

YN was instantly intrigued. "What did you have in mind?"

"Remember those Guatemalan worry dolls I picked up that time we ran an op down there?"

Catching on quickly, YN began to smile. "Do it."

Thin wisps of red began to emanate from Wanda's fingers as she tilted her head and concentrated. Within a few seconds, the little bamboo box came floating down the hall and into Wanda's outstretched hand. Opening the lid, she used her powers to lift each of the tiny handmade dolls and send them over to Tony.

YN was desperately trying to contain her laughter as Wanda's powers animated the dolls, making them seem as though they'd come to life. Tony was too busy working on the solution to his problem so he didn't notice his new friends until one of them tapped him on the shoulder.

"What the. . .?" he yelled as he jumped back in shock. 

Wanda had made the dolls look like miniature zombies with their lumbering gait and outstretched arms. Tony did not seem amused as he turned to where she and Wanda were loitering in the doorway. 

"I'm trying to work here," he said, using FRIDAY to amplify his voice across the room.

"You looked lonely," YN said as she stifled a giggle.

He gave Wanda a withering look, and sensing that his temper was running thin, she called the dolls back to her. Sharing a laugh with YN, she put the dolls back in their case and made her way back to the common room.

YN walked across the room and grabbed a stool. "Any closer to figuring it out?"

"I'm almost there," he said as he continued to work on the algorithm.

YN's phone buzzed and she checked the screen to find a message from Scott. "Scott just texted. They'll be here in a few minutes."

Tony ignored her, so she extended a finger and poked him in the butt. "You can stop, Tony."

Turning around and crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't need his help."

She let out a sigh and said nothing as he turned back to his work. Sometimes he could be the most stubborn man she'd ever met. Leaving Tony to his equations, she headed up to the landing pad to greet their guest.

When the cargo door to the Quinjet opened, YN was shocked to see Hope van Dyne exiting the plane with Scott.

"I didn't know you were coming, too." YN pulled Hope into a quick hug, before turning to Scott and embracing him as well. "It's been too long since we've seen you guys."

"Well, the world hasn't ended anytime soon," Hope joked as she took a second to look around. "This place is pretty impressive."

"It is," YN agreed as she began to lead them to Tony's lab.

"So, has he figured out how to reverse it yet?" Scott asked.

"Scott and I have a bet going," Hope explained with a wink.

YN chuckled. "Let me guess. You think he won't figure it out and Scott thinks he will?"

"How'd ya guess?" Scott asked with a laugh.

YN shook her head. "When I left him a few minutes ago, he was still tiny, so I'd say Hope's going to win this one."

When they reached the lab, all three of them stopped dead in their tracks. They'd been expecting to find Tony still the size of a gummy bear, but instead he'd managed to turn himself into a twelve foot tall giant. The lab was only ten feet high, so he was hunched over to keep his head from breaking through the ceiling.

Scott was the first to break the awkward silence. "Who wins now?" 

"It's still Hope," YN said as she continued to stare at Tony. "Just because he's bigger—much bigger—doesn't mean he's got it figured out.

"I did not agree to let her in here," Tony said as he pointed angrily at Hope. "Hank Pym's daughter is not welcome in my lab."

"Calm down, Stark," Hope said as held out her hands in a show of peace. "I'm just here to fix this problem." 

"Tony," YN said on a sigh as she walked over and looked up at him. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"

Hope walked over to Tony's notes and looked over his equations. Nodding her head, she gave him an astonished look. "You're pretty close—I'm impressed."

"What did I have wrong?"

"Uh-uh," she said as she pulled a small metal disc from a case and tossed it toward him. Within seconds, Tony had shrunk back down to his normal size and Hope walked over to retrieve her disc. "I'll be taking this back now."

Tony ran his hands over his body to make sure everything seemed to be back to normal. "I guess I should thank you."

Hope looked at him expectantly.

"What?" Tony asked after a few moments.

"I'm waiting," she said with a smug look.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed her and walked back to his workbench.

"Ignore him," YN said as she rolled her eyes. "Would you guys like to stay for dinner? I'm sure the rest of the team would be thrilled to spend some time with you."

As they were leaving the lab, they heard Tony mutter something under his breath.

"What was that, Stark?" Scott asked, cupping his ear dramatically.

"I said thank you."

"Wait here," YN said to her friends before walking back to Tony. "Come have dinner with us. Isn't it time you and Hank put this feud behind you?" She laid a hand on his shoulder and waited for him to look at her before continuing. "We have a chance to mend some fences here, and you've said it yourself—we work better when we're a team."

Tony sighed and looked over at Scott and Hope. "You think if I play nice, she'll share her tech?"

YN laughed as she leaned over and gave him a kiss. "Maybe if you offer her some of yours, she'd be willing to trade."

"This is why I love you, you know," he said as he pulled her into his arms. "Even when I'm the grouchiest SOB in the world, you've still got my back."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled at him. "I'll always have your back, but you'll pay for the grouchiness later tonight."

"Oh yeah?" he asked with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.

"I was talking about a full body massage—for me. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"You know you can't resist me once I get my hands on your body," he whispered seductively into her ear.

She couldn't deny the truth of his words as a shiver of excitement ran through her body. "We'll see how things go at dinner."

He made a cross over his heart with his finger. "I'll be the most charming host you've ever seen—promise."

YN walked into the lab to find Tony and Bruce huddled around a single computer monitor. Her stomach did a little twist, but she tried not to get overly worried. It wasn't as though every project they worked on together turned out disastrous—just Ultron, and the Pym Particle recreation. This was probably nothing, but she still felt her eye start to twitch a bit.

"Whatcha working on?" she asked in a cheery voice as she came up behind Tony and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He twisted in her embrace and placed a light kiss on her lips. "Something you're going to love."

All of her doubts came rushing back in an instant. "Please don't let it end the world."

He gave her a withering look. "You have no faith in me, woman."

She opened her mouth to refute his claim, but he placed a finger against her lips to silence her.

"I don't want to hear it," he said with a wink. "Once I show you what we've cooked up, you'll be thanking me."

She let him go and grabbed a stool. "Okay. Wow me."

Tony turned to Bruce, but the other scientist motioned for Tony to take the lead. "So, you know B.A.R.F. . . ."

"You've really got to work on that name," YN interrupted with a sour expression.

"I'm working on it," Tony assured her before getting back on topic. "Anyway, one of the kids from MIT messaged me about the September Foundation grant and something he said got me thinking."

YN waited for him to continue, but instead of finishing his explanation, he grabbed her hands and led her to the corner of the lab where he'd built a new room. Her eyebrows drew together in a frown as she tried to figure out what this room had to do with the Binarily Augumented Retro-Framimg technology he'd presented to MIT a few years back.

"B.A.R.F. uses your own memories to recreate a holographic simulation, but what if we could program it to create other types of simulations?" he asked as they walked through the door into the room.

YN felt a sense of déjà vu as she looked at the all-black walls with yellow lines laid out in a grid pattern. "Wait. This is a holodeck, isn't it?"

With a huge smile, he leaned over and kissed her again. "Straight outta Star Trek and into your living room."

"Does it work?" she asked, her voice full of excitement and wonder.

"Does it work?" Tony repeated in an affronted tone. "You're talking to Tony Stark, woman."

"I know," she snarked. "Which is why I asked if it worked."

He rolled his eyes and walked over to the control panel. "Ye of little faith."

With a few taps, the black walls disappeared and YN found herself standing on a white sandy beach with the clear blue waters, of what could only be the Caribbean, gently lapping at the shore. Her mouth gaped slightly and she would've sworn that she could feel the warmth of the sun and the tickling of the breeze against her skin.

"FRIDAY adjusts the atmosphere depending on which program is running," Tony explained as he nodded toward a large blanket laying on the sand. "It could be the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica, or the burning heat of the Sahara. Wherever you want to go, this can take you there."

"This is amazing, Tony, it truly is," she said as continued to take in every last detail that had been holographically recreated. "But I didn't bring a swimsuit."

"I wasn't planning on swimming today," he teased as he pulled her down to the blanket to lie beside him.

"Oh, so that's why you created this," she surmised as she let him slowly start undressing her. "This is nice, but you're still not off the hook for that vacation you've been promising me."

"Consider this the preview." 

All conversation ended as their mouths became otherwise occupied. For all of Tony's faults, he never ceased to amaze her—both in bed and out of it.

As they lie in one another's arms on the holographic beach, YN wondered if they'd ever have a normal life. When she'd been younger, she'd thought she wanted the typical, All-American dream, but lying in Tony's arms she realized that nothing about life was ever typical. They were heroes, and because of that, their lives didn't exclusively belong to them anymore. She knew she needed to learn to be content with what she had, but a part of her wondered if this was all she'd ever get. It was a cheap imitation of life, but at least she was able to share it with the man she loved.

FRIDAY's melodic voice broke the spell that she and Tony had been under. "Sorry to interrupt, boss, but Secretary Ross is on the line."

"Take a message," Tony called out without even bothering to open his eyes.

"He says it's an emergency, sir," FRIDAY insisted.

"Fine, put him through," Tony instructed. "But only audio. Don't want to give the the old geezer another heart attack."

Ross' voice boomed around them as though he were the announcer at a sporting event. "Stark, get off your ass. I've got a mission for the Avengers."

YN sighed and untangled herself from Tony. The real world was calling and they had to answer. While she would've loved to have spent the rest of the day in their make-believe paradise, they had a job to do—they'd always have a job to do—and as long as they were able, they'd do it.

Once they'd finished dressing and Tony had shut down the program leaving them back in the black-walled room, he pulled her into his embrace again. "We'll do the real thing soon. I promise."

It wasn't that YN didn't believe him, it was just that she knew it was out of his control. But she didn't want to start a fight. "When we get back from saving the world, we'll take some time off."

Tony knew as well as she did that it wouldn't happen, but it never hurt to dream.

The evil forces of the world must have come together and declared the day a national holiday of sorts because for the first time in weeks, there was no urgent mission that needed to be handled. YN was thrilled, and had no qualms about declaring how happy she was that they'd had an entire day to just laze around and do nothing.

But she should've known not to jinx herself.

No sooner than she'd announced that she and Tony were taking their well-deserved—and long overdue—vacation to the Caribbean, trouble showed up on their doorstep. This version of trouble was adorable, though, so she didn't mind too much.

"What's up Pete?" YN asked as the nervous teenager stood in the doorway of the lab and shuffled from one foot to the other as his face turned beet red.

"I need your help," Peter said with a look of pure horror on his face.

"What it is?" asked Tony, instantly concerned. "Vulture didn't escape from prison, did he? I'd have heard about that, right? FRIDAY, check on the status of Adrian Toomes."

"No, no, Mr. Stark," Peter quickly interjected. "It's nothing like that."

FRIDAY's Irish lilt filled the room. "Arian Toomes is still safely tucked away at Riker's Island, boss."

Tony gave Peter a frantic look. "Talk to me, kid. You gotta tell me what's wrong."

"I forgot I had a homework assignment that's due tomorrow," he admitted with a grimace.

"A homework. . ." Tony threw up his hands and closed his eyes. "You can't come barging in here acting like it's the end of the world just because you forgot to do a book report."

YN laid a hand on Tony's arm and gave him a chastising look. "It may not seem important to you, but it's obviously important to Peter." She turned back to the teenager. "How can we help?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, he walked over and laid his backpack on the work bench and pulled out a notebook. "It's for my theater class. We were supposed to write a musical." He gave Tony an apologetic look. "I didn't mean to forget it, but we've been. . ."

"Off saving the world almost every night," Tony finished for him. "You're doing great kid, but you've got to find a balance between the superhero stuff and school."

YN gave him a dirty look. "You're one to talk. How long have you been promising me a trip to the Caribbean?"

"That's. . .it's not. . .totally not the same thing," he stuttered.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"So, Pete, what's this assignment again?" Tony asked as desperately tried to change the subject.

"I only need to have it written by tomorrow," he explained as he pulled out his notes. "Then we'll get two weeks to find a cast and have it ready to perform by the end of the semester." He looked up with fearful eyes. "It's fifty percent of my grade for this term, and I need to ace this so I'll have a chance at MIT next year."

Tony's mouth formed a hard line. "I've already told you that's a given. One call from me and you're. . ."

"I want to get in on my own," Peter said before realizing how he sounded. "Not that I'm not appreciative, Mr. Stark. It's just that I want to know that I'm good enough on my own."

YN reached out and rested her hands on Peter's shoulders as she looked him straight in his eyes. "You're more than qualified, Peter. But I know what you mean, and Tony does, too. Now, let's get to work on this assignment so you can prove to yourself and everyone else that you're MIT material."

"Okay," Peter said with a shake of his head. "So far, I've got. . .nothing."

Tony turned to look at YN with a frustrated expression on his face. "Hear that, dear? He's got nothing."

"He's wrong," YN countered. "He's got us." She looked back at Peter with a gleam in her eye. "I've got the perfect idea that's going to knock the socks off of everyone."

Tony didn't look impressed. "Yeah? Let's hear this genius idea."

YN wrapped an arm around each of the guys' shoulders and waved each hand across their field of vision. "Picture it. New York City. May of 2012. Loki uses the Tesseract to open a portal into space and thousands of Chitauri begin to pour through. Enter our heroes—the brave men and women that make up the newly minted group that calls themselves the Avengers."

"That's awesome," Peter said just before his nose scrunched up. "But it's supposed to be a musical. We need songs."

"Oh, we'll have songs," YN insisted. "We start the musical out with, _There Was an Idea_ sung by Fury as the team sits around the conference table on the Helicarrier. Then we'll do a medley highlighting each of the Avengers—pull in the old Captain America jingle from the 40s, a little bit of Black Sabbath for Tony. . ."

"I approve," Tony interrupted earning him a glare from his girlfriend.

YN continued as though he hadn't spoken. "Then we'll head into the battle scene. Bruce will have his own solo, _I'm Always Angry_, and Nat can sing _I Don't See How That's a Party_. The entire battle will be choreographed into a dance. Tony's solo, _Earth's Mightiest Heroes_ will come toward the end of the battle followed by Loki singing _I Have an Army_. The Hulk will then do his solo, _Puny God_, just before Steve sings _We won_. Then Fury will return and end it with the song, _I Still Believe in Heroes_ while the team sits around and eats Shawarma."

Tony looked impressed, but he was still skeptical. "That sounds great and all, but who's going to write all these song?"

"We all are," YN announced as she asked FRIDAY to call down all the team members.

"I can't ask everyone. . ." Peter began.

"Nonsense," YN said. "We're the reason why you didn't get to do this assignment before now. Besides, I'm sure everyone will be thrilled to be in your musical."

"Be?" Tony asked with a shocked expression. "Did you just say 'be,' as in we'll _be_ the one's performing this shit-show in a few week's time?"

"You want the kid to get into MIT, don't you?"

"He's already in," Tony argued. "He doesn't need us singing and dancing around like fools. . ."

"Who's singing and dancing like fools?" Steve asked as he entered the lab. "Please tell me it's Tony."

YN smiled as the rest of the team filed into the room. "It'll actually be all of us. We've been a little selfish with Peter's time the past few weeks and he has a huge assignment due tomorrow."

"Whatever you need us to do," Nat said with a nod.

"I'm in," Clint agreed.

"I don't know how to sing," Bruce began with a pained look. "Why do we have to sing?"

"We're putting on a musical called _The Battle of New York_ in two week's time," YN told them as she clapped their hands. "I've got song titles for each of you. You just need to write the words and I'll help Peter with the scene changes and the rest of the dialogue."

"Wait a second," Tony said as he narrowed his gaze at YN. "You didn't give yourself a solo."

She leaned over and kissed her boyfriend. "I wasn't an Avenger during the Battle of New York, dear. Remember?"

"Why do I get the feeling you deliberately chose the one fight you weren't a part of?" Thor asked as one of his eyebrows raised in suspicion.

"Because someone needs to be stage manager," she fired back at the god. "And I'm the only one qualified."

"I beg to differ," Loki said with a smirk.

YN gave the God of Mischief a devious look. "Oh, but you've got a solo to write, sweetie."

Loki snarled his nose, but took his song title and went off to a quiet corner. YN looked around at the rest of the team, but they all seemed ready to jump into the assignment.

"You think this is really going to work?" Peter asked as he and YN sat down and started writing the rest of the show.

She gave him a knowing look. "How many other kids in your school are going to have the Avengers performing their musicals? This could be the most horribly written musical in the history of mankind and all people are going to remember is Tony Stark singing and dancing in a high school auditorium."

They stayed up most of the night working on their songs, but by dawn, Peter had a completed musical to take to school. But that was only the beginning. The next two weeks were spent trying to juggle saving the world and rehearsing the musical so Peter could get the A he needed to keep his GPA up.

Opening night rolled around, and it was as though the universe was smiling down upon them since the world seemed to be out of danger for a few hours. Bruce was a nervous wreck, but the rest of the team seemed eager to get on stage.

"Who are these idiots?" Flash asked Peter as he slipped backstage to heckle his rival. "That guy doesn't even look like Tony Stark."

"All set, Peter?" YN asked as she walked up to the two boys and gave Flash a menacing glare.

Flash's face fell as he recognized YN. "You're. . .you're. . ."

"Peter's good friend, and co-founder of the Stark Internship program?" she supplied with a shit-eating grin. Turning her back to Flash to make him abundantly aware of his insignificance, she looked Peter in the eye. "You ready?"

He nodded his head and gave her a nervous smile as he tapped his notecards against his hand. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Go knock 'em dead, kid," she said as she pushed him toward the stage.

She stood off to the side and listened as he gave his opening statement thanking his theater teacher, and all of the Avengers for giving up their time to star in his production. Then he thanked YN personally for all of her help with stage design and costumes. When the applause died off, he gave a small bow and headed off stage.

When Nick Fury himself walked into the spotlight and began singing his song, there was a murmur of surprise before the room grew as quiet as a church. Getting Nick to agree to do this had meant YN had to call in every favor the former Director owed her, but seeing the pride in Peter's eyes made it completely worth the effort.

By the time Nick finished it off with _I Still Believe in Heroes_, there wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium. Peter took YN's hand and dragged her out on stage with him as the cast of Avengers formed a row behind them and they all took their bows. 

It may have been a silly school assignment, but the Avengers were a team, and when one of their own needed something, they'd always be there to lend a hand.

Tony shuffled from left to right as he stared into three sets of large, docile brown eyes with impossibly long lashes. "Why do we have to do this again?"

YN reached out and began stroking the neck of one of the three horses leaning their heads over the corral fence. "Because we're finally on vacation and I've always wanted to ride a horse on the beach."

"We could've done this in the Holodeck." Tony sighed and gave her a pleading look. "Please don't make me do this."

"You're scared, aren't you?" she asked as the truth of the matter suddenly became clear to her. "You have no problem flying into the face of danger, but you're terrified of a horse."

Tony pointed toward one of the horses. "Have you seen the teeth on one of these things?"

YN shook her head as their trail guide began walking toward them. "I can't believe Tony Stark—the Tony Stark—is afraid of a horse. Your fans would be so disappointed."

"Are we ready?" their tour guide asked as he gave them a huge smile.

Tony started to object, but YN cut him off. "All set. Which one is yours?"

"The palomino gelding is mine," Tarone said as he pointed toward one of the horses. "You will be on the dapple gray mare, and your husband has the dark bay gelding."

"Oh, we're not married," YN said offhandedly as she walked toward the dapple gray mare.

Their guide's smile faded as he stared angrily at Tony. "What's the matter with you, man? A beautiful woman like that deserves a ring."

Tony ignored the tour guide and looked to see how YN was handling the topic of conversation. When he saw her mesmerized gaze on the horse, he knew she hadn't heard of word of the exchange. He was about to put the tour guide in his place, but the horse he'd been assigned to nickered and began nudging his shoulder causing him to jump in surprise.

YN tuned out the two men as she ran her hand down the horse's muzzle and whispered silly platitudes. The mare was absolutely beautiful and YN was sure she'd look amazing sitting astride her in the photos she was going to make Tony take during their ride to the beach. She glanced over at her boyfriend to see him staring down his mount for the day and immediately grabbed her phone for a quick picture. She was amazed to see that the color of the horse's coat matched his hair perfectly and she stifled a laugh as she realized it was as if they'd been made for each other.

"I'm ready to go," she told Tarone as he opened the gate and led them into the corral.

Tarone helped her and Tony into their saddles and once he was ready, he began to lead them out of the paddock and onto the trail toward the beach. YN was enjoying herself too much to worry about her riding skills, but Tony looked like he was trying to stay on the back of a bucking bronco instead of tired, old trail horse.

"You okay over there?" YN asked as she snapped another quick picture. She couldn't wait to send them all to Peter so he could get a good laugh at his idol struggling to ride a horse.

"This isn't as easy as it looks, you know," he snarled as his knuckles started to turn white from gripping the reins so tightly.

Tarone began to chuckle as his horse followed the familiar path it'd taken dozens of times over the years. "Just sit back and let the horse do all the work, Mr. Stark."

Tony frowned, but he kept quiet. This was something that YN had been looking forward to for months and he wasn't about to ruin it. When they left the dense forest and rode out onto the white sandy beach, Tony glanced over at YN. The look on her face made the thought of his soon to be saddle-sore ass a little bit easier to deal with. His heart warmed when he saw the jubilant smile that spread across her entire face making her eyes crinkle at the corners. 

He let go of the reins with one hand and patted his pocket. The small square-shaped box was right where it was supposed to be, but now Tony was debating his original plan. Tarone's snarky comment about their marital status had made Tony a bit self-conscious and he didn't relish the thought of proposing with the other man watching. With a determined nod to himself, he decided that he'd wait until they were back on his private island where he could be assured that no one would be looking on with judgmental eyes.

With their ride on the beach finally over, Tony decided to take YN on a tour through the Jamaican town where they'd docked his private speed boat. The day had turned cloudy and without the sun beating down on them, the humidity wasn't as bad as it had been on the trail ride.

"Look at all the fresh produce," YN exclaimed as she saw the stands and stands of fruits and vegetables laid out before her. "We should try some of the ones we can't get back home."

"Get whatever you want, dear."

She turned and gave him a quick kiss as she took a basket from the vendor and began picking out the pieces she wanted to purchase.

Tony had always had his island stocked with food, so it was an experience for him to watch YN carefully choose each fruit and vegetable before placing it in her basket. He was also amazed when she began haggling over prices with the vendor, but from the smile on his face, he seemed to be glad to have the opportunity to bargain over his prices.

In the end, Tony gave him twice as much as he and YN had agreed upon. He gave the vendor a stern warning look so he wouldn't rat him out to YN. The man simply smiled and pocketed the extra cash as he wished them a good day.

Taking the heavy basket of produce from her, Tony followed along as she continued to look into each stall to see what treasures she might discover.

"We need to get some souvenirs for Peter and Ned," YN said as she slipped into a stall selling hand-carved wooden masks and figurines.

"Why?" Tony asked. 

She turned around and gave him a hard look. "Tony Stark, don't be like that." She picked up a darkly stained wooden mask that looked like a roaring lion. "Don't you think Ned would just adore this?"

"Probably more than he should," Tony said with a sigh as he took the mask and laid it on the table where an old woman sat fanning herself. "I'm just going to lay this here—we'll be doing some more shopping. . .apparently."

"You're a hard man," the old woman said as her gaze narrowed.

"I beg your pardon?" Tony stopped and turned on his heel to face the woman again. She was extremely overweight with a bright blue tunic and several number two pencils stuck into the elaborate updo upon her head.

"You're a hard man," she repeated as her eyes hardened. "You'd do well to be more generous with what you've been given."

"Look, I don't know what you're trying to get at. . ."

YN laid a hand on his arm and gave him a smile. "Let it go." She turned to the old woman and handed her the other items she'd picked out. "We'll take these two masks and the little figurines."

The old woman turned to YN with a huge smile on her face. "You have a kind heart."

"Thank you," YN said as her heart warmed from the woman's words. "I try."

The woman glared at Tony. "You'll have to try harder with this one."

YN chuckled and exchanged a few bills for the bag of souvenirs. "Tell me about it."

"I don't believe this," Tony muttered aloud. "You two have no problem spending all my money. . ."

The old woman began speaking in her native language and making elaborate gestures with her hands. Tony stopped talking and looked between her and YN. The old woman was making him nervous and he was about to activate the nano-suit when she finally stopped murmuring and spat on the ground.

"Are you finished?" he asked..

A wicked grin spread across her face. "No, but you might be."

"Is that a threat?"

"No," the old woman said with an evil chuckle. "More like a curse."

"You cursed me?" he asked her before he turned to YN. "Did you hear that? She cursed me." He turned back to the woman. "What's the curse? Early death, disease. . ?"

"You're close," she said with a wink. "Not so much a disease as a virus."

"A virus? That's all?"

"I may have forgotten to mention that it was a computer virus," she said as she tapped her chest to indicate Tony's arc reactor hidden beneath his t-shirt.

YN couldn't hold back her laughter as she grabbed Tony's arm and started dragging him from the shop. "C'mon, let's go before she really puts a curse on you." She looked back at the old woman and gave her a little wave before leading Tony back to the dock so they could head back to their island. Leave it up to Tony to piss off a vendor that practiced Obeah. The sooner they got off the main island, the better.

As they neared Tony's private island, the clouds began to dissipate and the sun setting low on the horizon turned the water into liquid gold. YN had been dreaming of this vacation for what seemed like forever, and so far, it had lived up to all her expectations.

Looping her arm through his, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's so beautiful."

He placed a kiss on the top of her head and continued to steer them back home. "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"It's been a great vacation," she mused. "I'm not sure how it could possibly get any better."

Tony thought about the ring currently resting in his pocket and smiled. He knew of one way it could get better.

The island came into view and YN's breath was taken away again. It was small compared to some of the other islands nearby, but still large enough for the enormous mansion with it's in-ground pool, and the lush forest that took up almost half of the island.

The house itself was a sprawling Spanish Revival architectural wonder with it's red tile roof and tan stucco walls. YN loved the asymmetrical design that had wings jutting out in different directions with curved arches over the windows and doors. The interior was all brightly colored tile floors and huge open spaces with plush furniture that invited you to sit and relax for a while.

The pool that overlooked the dock was also asymmetrical as it wound its way around the covered patio with stairs sweeping down on either side. The walls of the pool weren't painted in the pale blue like most pools, but instead, it was a darker shade that gave it the appearance of a lagoon hidden amongst the trees of the rain forest.

Tony tied the boat to the dock and took the basket of produce and the bag of souvenirs before helping her out. 

"I thought we could sit on the patio and watch the sun set after we ate dinner," he said as he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"That sounds nice."

Using the fresh veggies they'd bought on the main island, as well as some items already stocked in the kitchen, they prepared dinner together and took it out to the patio to eat. Tony had never been one to cook, but with YN by his side showing him how to dice and chop, it seemed as easy as rebuilding the engine of the Shelby GT500 Howard had bought for him for his sixteenth birthday.

Tony was anxious to ask the question he'd been dying to ask all day, but he checked his enthusiasm and waited just a bit longer. The sun was starting to set and the clouds from earlier in the day were reflecting the rays and turning the sky a myriad of colors that no artist could ever fully capture. He knew he wanted this moment to be perfect—just like her.

Just as the sun began its final decent toward the horizon, he began to speak. 

"I love you," he began.

She turned and cupped his jaw as she gently kissed him. "I love you, too."

"I know I've been promising you this vacation for far too long. . ."

"We're here now."

He smiled as he realized she wasn't going to let him get everything out at once, but in a way it was fitting. Since she'd come into his life, she'd been pushing her way into every aspect of it and forcing him to slow down and truly appreciate the moment.

"We are," he agreed. "And somehow we've managed to make it here without any interference from the rest of the world." He paused to gather his thoughts. "But that's our life—we're always at the beck and call of the world and its problems. We signed up for the hero gig, but that doesn't mean we have to stop living our lives."

"What are you getting at, Tony?" she asked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "I'm saying that I don't want to forget to live. I don't want to get so caught up in saving the world that I forget what I'm saving it for." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tiny box. "You're my world, YN, and I don't want to spend a single day without you."

She sat up a little straighter when she saw the box. It could be anything, but from the speech Tony was giving her, she was pretty sure she knew what was coming next. She'd been hoping for a proposal for a while now, but now that it seemed forthcoming, she was suddenly nervous.

Tony opened the box to reveal the sparkly diamond ring nestled inside. "I've been waiting for the perfect moment to do this all day, but then I realized it didn't really matter when I asked you because every moment with you is perfect." He pulled the ring from the box and held it out to her. "YN YLN, would you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?"

Unshed tears of happiness were not only filling her eyes, but choking her up as well. She wanted to scream "yes" as loud as she could so the whole universe would know how happy she was, but all she could manage was a squeak and a fervent nod of her head.

He slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into his arms. She may not have had the words to tell him her answer, but she could show him with her actions. She knew life with Tony wouldn't be easy, but at least it would never be boring.

** _~ The End ~_ **

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_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 260 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! They finally got their trip to the Caribbean, but it seems as though the Reader got more than she'd bargained for! She seems pretty happy with that proposal. What about you? Are you glad these two finally found a moment of happiness? I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_


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